


Finn Three-Toes

by WallaceAndGromitGirl



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Colonization, Exploration, F/F, Family, Friendship, Humor, Pets, Post-Canon, Sisters, sloth - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-03
Updated: 2014-07-15
Packaged: 2018-01-07 06:44:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1116736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WallaceAndGromitGirl/pseuds/WallaceAndGromitGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A strange gift from a faraway land reminds Elsa just how little she knows of the person her sister has become. Good thing she has time to learn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Elsa's tea froze at the sharp, hurried rapping on her study door. "Yes?" she said. Perhaps Anna had actually managed to find that secret passage in the castle she'd read about. Then again, Anna would have broken down the door.

Sure enough, it was Kai who burst in. "Your Majesty…!"

"Is something wrong?"

He shook his head. "The _Drage_ has been spotted."

Her father's last act as king had been to send out the expedition. Now the docks were packed with cheering crowds as it came home. A carriage was waiting for the head of the party and his men when they descended the gangplank, and a procession of treasure-laden chests followed them to the palace.

Anna was face-deep in a book and only noticed what was going on from the noise through her open window. When she saw the ship and the approaching carriage, she flew towards the great hall. "They're back! _They're back!"_

* * *

Elsa was standing in front of her throne when the party arrived. "Sir Norberg."

Their leader, a bearded, dark-haired fellow as old as the king would have been, removed his helmet and bowed. "Queen Elsa…"

She clasped her hands behind her back. "No need, Your Majesty," he added with a smile. "We heard what happened when we stopped in Corona."

Elsa relaxed and happily sank into the chair before regaining her composure. "Very well. I suppose there's a flag of ours waving around somewhere out there?"

"In Central America, my queen. We call the land New Akershus, and we have brought you an assortment of its riches — "

" _Wait!"_ The doors of the great hall were flung open, and Anna came skidding across the floor. "I'm not too late, am I? To meet the explorer guys."

Elsa nodded to Sir Norberg. "May I present Princess Anna."

"Wha- _oh!_ I mean, hi there! Where did you go? Did you see a bunch of amazing stuff? Did you die? Wait, what…?"

"He'll tell us when he's ready," Elsa said, pulling her sister back towards the throne.

"Indeed. With the ladies' permission," said Sir Norberg, "I shall proceed."

One by one, the chests were brought forward and opened. Out came precious gems, gold jewelry, and rocks covered in intricate carvings. From others came strange new fruits, beans from which to make chocolate (Elsa immediately agreed to consider the knight's request for a second trip when she saw this), capes made of animal skins and a stuffed bird with colorful feathers.

"You have done well," Elsa said to Sir Norberg as his men began to clear away the chests. "A look at all this ought to sway the cabinet."

Anna was staring at the glassy eyes of the bird. "It looks sad…"

"Would you like to see something alive, Your Highness?"

"Huh?"

Sir Norberg gestured to his men, who brought forth a crate which had been sitting in the corner. It was held together by locks, two handles jutted from the sides, and holes were punched in the wood all around.

Elsa eyed the box suspiciously. "And this is?"

"Either a pet or a meal, whichever you see fit. May I present _Bradypus variegatus."_

The sides of the crate were unlocked and lifted apart, and the sisters gasped — the elder in surprise, the younger in delight.

Before them sat a stand with two poles and a bar between them, and from the bar hung a furry gray creature. It was like a monkey with the face of a dog, Elsa thought, and it had three toes with long, curved claws. It stared at the girls, blinking slowly and yawning.

Anna ran forward and gently stroked its belly. "You brought a sloth!" she exclaimed. "See, Elsa? They brought a sloth! Hi, little sloth…"

"You know about them?" Elsa asked.

"Of course! Can I keep him? Please please _please_ can I keep him, Elsa?"

"I'll have it taken to your room."

Anna threw her arms around her sister and emitted a flurry of overjoyed "thank you"s before skipping off with her new pet, lovingly chattering at it. "You are going to be _so_ happy here…!"

"Anna, wait — "

Then she heard the crowds streaming through the castle gates, and the rest of the day was lost.

* * *

After the party, during which Sir Norberg was constantly at her ear, she found herself pulled away into a cabinet meeting that droned on until midnight and then some. There was talk of funding, supplies, the number of ships in the convoy...eventually she began simply nodding to whatever was said and letting the others argue.

"Queen Elsa?" Kai was touching her shoulder. "They're finished."

She snapped herself back to the present with a shake of her head. "Good. I want a summary of the decisions on my desk first thing tomorrow morning." She left without another word and walked to her room, stopping to open a window and breathe in the cool night air. After undoing her cape and draping it over her bed, she stepped into a pair of slippers and crept off to the east wing.

There was still a light shining through the bottom of Anna's door. Smiling, she softly knocked on it in the same playful rhythm she had grown up hearing. "Anna? Are you awake?"

"I-I was just going to sleep, Elsa!"

"Oh, you're fine," she said as she opened the door. "I just wanted to talk."

It was like stepping back in time. The place was still as pink and as messy as ever. Anna was sprawled on the floor with disheveled hair and bare feet, while the sloth's stand sat at the end of her bed. "Do you think he'd like chocolate?" she asked, staring up at the creature.

"I wouldn't risk it."

"I know they like leaves and those yellow things. Bandanas, right?"

"Bananas." Elsa sat on the bed. "I didn't even know you liked sloths."

Anna sat up and stared at her. "You didn't?"

"No…?"

"Oh." She flopped down again.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no! I just...um...it's kind of weird."

"Tell me anyway."

"...I liked to think that you were still watching me, even when you said to go away."

Elsa pulled her knees to her chin and wondered what else she had missed. How much of the Anna she had left behind remained in the Anna that was before her now.

 _Well, worrying's going to get you nowhere._ Getting off the bed, she leaned over Anna. "So how'd you learn about them?"

"There's a book in the library. Why do you want to know?"

Elsa pulled her to her feet. "If I'm going to help you with him, I'll need to find it."


	2. Chapter 2

When the servants heard no noise coming from Elsa's bedroom a minute after the clock struck six, they thought little of it. After two minutes, they began to worry. After three minutes, Kai rapped on the door worriedly. "Queen Elsa? Are you alright?"

The door was unlocked. When he opened it, he was greeted with the sight of an empty room and an untouched bed. "Your Majesty…?"

"Good morning, Kai."

He turned around. The queen was standing behind him, still wearing her dress from last night. Her braid had come undone, leaving her hair wavy and disheveled. Several books were tucked under her arm. Despite the dark circles under her eyes, she had a smile more radiant than Kai had seen on her in quite a while. "You look worried," she told him.

"You don't appear to have slept at all, Your Majesty."

She shook her head. "Send word out that I'll receive no visitors today. There's something important I need to do." Turning, she began to walk back down the hall.

"What sort of thing is that?" Kai called out after her.

"Oh, just a personal project."

* * *

Upon reaching the east wing, Elsa broke into a run. "How's it going?" she asked as she slipped into her sister's room and closed the door behind her.

Anna was sitting cross-legged on the bed, holding a carrot leaves-first in front of the sloth. "He doesn't like carrots. Who doesn't like carrots, Elsa?"

"Well, what kind of things would he eat in the wild?"

"Leaves, fruit, all that stuff."

Elsa thought for a moment. "I bet he'd like some berries."

Anna perked up. The mischievous fire from days gone by was sparking in her eyes. "Aren't there a few new jars of cloudberry jam down in the pantry?"

"You know that's only for special occasions."

"Exactly!"

One might have imagined they were pretending to be five and eight again as they hurried down the stairs. Anna was laughing and urging her sister to go faster, while Elsa was trying to hush her. Kneeling in front of the kitchen door, they peered through the key hole. Empty, just as they wanted. "I'm goin' in," Anna said, standing up. "Cover me." Leaving Elsa guarding the door, she snuck inside.

It took longer than she had said it would. Elsa could hear her wandering around, humming some sort of theme song she was making up and occasionally sending a pot or pan clattering to the floor. A few servants passed by and gave her an odd look as they went. Why would she be standing here, after all? She gave them a nod, and that seemed sufficient in sending them off.

"They've gotten really good at hiding stuff," Anna said when she finally emerged into the hall. She was clutching not only a jar of the dark orange jam, but also a slab of chocolate.

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"It was sitting _right there,_ what was I _supposed_ to do?"

* * *

Elsa had been right about the berries. When they spooned out some of the jam and held it out to the sloth, he took one sniff and slurped it down with no hesitation. Anna petted him with one hand and picked bits of chocolate off the slab with the other. "We should make him a place to live."

Elsa sat on the floor, an open book lying before her. "Says here they live in trees most of the time," she said through a mouthful of chocolate.

"We could bring one in."

"Too messy."

"What's your idea, then?"

She stood up. "Come with me."

Elsa's door was just as Anna had seen it every day for the past thirteen years, painted snowflakes and all. She'd almost forgotten that it was capable of opening, and it was hard to conceal her surprise when it did. "I just need to get some stationery," Elsa said.

Stepping over the threshold, Anna glanced around in wonder. It wasn't that different from her own room, really: the walls and furniture were shades of violet, and it didn't look like a herd of reindeer had plowed through the place. But none of that was important. "Thank you," she said.

Elsa looked up. "For what?"

"For letting me in."

Her sister smiled. "My pleasure." She held up the piece of paper she had been scribbling on. "Does this have enough branches?" She had drawn a picture of a tree-like structure: one tall cylinder with other long shapes protruding from it, some straight and some jagged or twisted. Numbers and calculations filled the rest of the page. "I was thinking we could put it next to the window."

"You drew all that in a minute?"

"Geometry classes."

Anna whistled. "The window sounds perfect. So how much wood are we going to need?"

"If we're lucky, we won't need any."

Anna furrowed her brows and cocked her head, then a grin of realization spread across her face. "Oh, this is gonna be _good."_

* * *

Back in her room, they marked out a spot for the tree. "You sure you want me to try this?" Elsa asked.

"You're fine. You can do this," Anna answered, placing a hand on her arm. "I'm right here."

Focusing on the circle, Elsa took a breath and raised her arms. The ice came slowly at first, then in a steady flow. It swirled up towards the ceiling, molding itself into a thick stalk and sprouting branches as it went. Sparkling patterns resembling bark carved themselves in every inch of the ice. The branches ended in clusters of glistening, paper-thin leaves.

"Oh, Elsa," Anna breathed. "It's amazing…"

The ice was slightly cool to the touch, not enough to be uncomfortable, and it wasn't melting in the sun. The sloth latched on to one of the branches immediately and went to sleep. "He still needs a name," Elsa remarked.

Anna sat down on the bed and observed her new friend. "Something short. Short and cute." She was silent for a few seconds, then she smiled. "Finn. That's what I'll call him. Finn Three-Toes."

Elsa sat next to her. "I like that too."

* * *

Kai looked positively haggard when Elsa ran into him that evening. "Sir Norberg has been requesting an audience with you all day, madam. I've tried to hold him off."

"Tell him that he has my permission to embark on a second expedition as long as the funds are present."

"Indeed they are."

"Then he may take as much time as he needs to prepare for his journey."

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, I had assumed you would need more convincing."

"I've already had all the convincing I need," Elsa said. "I think it'll be very good for all of us. Sir Norberg may visit tomorrow for further discussion if he wishes."

That night, there was a pile of paperwork waiting for her on the desk. As she sifted through it, she found herself staring down at her hands. She smiled at the memory of Anna's delighted face as the tree rose out of nothingness. She was right, it _was_ amazing. _They_ were amazing.

_Maybe I should get a sloth._

**Author's Note:**

> I suppose I ought to explain where the idea for this came from. Basically, it's a fact that Anna's voice actress has an affinity for sloths. As in, "once had a panic attack when she realized she was going to meet one." I thought it would be fun to write about Anna interacting with a sloth, and turned into the idea of Anna and Elsa bonding over a sloth. Which is what the next part will be about. :)


End file.
